Grant to allow walking/biking to Geyser Road Elementary

Saratoga Springs and the city school district received a nearly $250,000 grant to build a safe walking and biking route to Geyser Road Elementary School.

“Geyser Road Elementary School does not currently allow walking and biking to the school due to the perceived lack of a safe access point to the school,” Mayor Scott Johnson said Wednesday. “With the construction of sidewalks and signalized pedestrian crossing, the school’s policy will be modified to allow students to ride bikes and walk to school.”

The award represents the full amount for the project. Construction for the Safe Routes to School project is expected to begin in the fall of 2013, with completion by the spring of 2014.Physical improvements include the connection of existing sidewalk segments on the south side of Geyser Road that will extend from Casino Drive to Tiffany Place, a signalized pedestrian crossing that will halt traffic and allow safe crossing of Geyser Road, and sidewalks from Geyser Road to the doors of the school. An estimated 60 percent of the elementary school’s 391 students will be able to walk and bike to school as a result of the project’s construction, according to the city. Approximately 20 percent of the city’s population lives within this neighborhood. More:

The intent of Safe Routes to School is to enable and encourage children to walk or bicycle to school; help children adopt a more healthy and active lifestyle by making bicycling and walking a safer and more appealing transportation alternative; and facilitate the planning, development and implementation of transportation projects that will improve safety while reducing traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.

The Saratoga Springs School District in conjunction with the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), City Planning and Police Department staff, and other community organizations will lead educational and encouragement efforts for students and their families to walk and bike safely to school. The Saratoga Springs Police Department will provide enforcement efforts to assure motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists operate safely once the construction has been completed. In addition, the project will also tie in with the proposed Geyser Road multi-use path, conceptually designed to be constructed along the north side of Geyser Road from the City boundary with Milton to Route 50. The City Council has allocated $150,000 in 2013 for the completion of construction drawings for the proposed Geyser Road multi-use path.